It’s an unfamiliar-looking spring for Boston sports fans.
In only the first week of May, both the Bruins and Celtics lost their first-round playoff matchups in disappointing fashion. The Red Sox are a dumpster fire, with calls for a change in team ownership filling the stands of Fenway Park, and every headline surrounding the Patriots is related to their head coach’s adulterous love affair.
Springtime in Boston is supposed to mean rejuvenation and hope after a long, cold winter. And with it comes playoff hockey and basketball, along with the return of baseball. Instead, it feels like the city skipped straight to the dog days of summer after a catastrophic few weeks in the sports world.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment comes from the Celtics. For a team that won 56 regular-season games and welcomed back a fully healthy Jayson Tatum, they looked like they were on a fast track to the Finals. Instead, all that momentum came to a screeching halt after blowing a 3-1 series lead — only the 15th time in NBA history a team has done so — to a Philadelphia 76ers group that, on paper, had no business making it past five games.
It was a monumental collapse for a Celtics team that had proven to be a disciplined, resilient group throughout this season. Game one looked to be a statement win, with the Celtics cruising to a 32-point victory that made the 76ers look lost. After a small hiccup in Game Two, the Celtics won the next two and were poised for a gentleman’s sweep and to close the series out in Game five. What followed was something Celtics fans have a daunting history with: third-quarter breakdowns.
Lackluster third-quarter performances set the Celtics up for failure in games five, six and seven, as they failed to make any real counter-adjustments coming out of the half and were left fighting an uphill battle late in games. The offense played at too slow a pace, the team never found its groove from three-point range and the defense allowed Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, the 76ers’ best players, to get to their spots and settle into a rhythm without much resistance.
For a team with such high expectations leading up to the postseason, falling short to a much lesser Philadelphia team was quite the shock. Now, Boston fans are left with a gaping hole in their schedules, having anticipated watching Celtics games through May and into June.
While it’s fair to assume expectations for the Bruins were slightly lower, their ugly first-round showing against the Buffalo Sabres still added extra salt to the wound for Boston fans. Look no further than game one, when the Bruins blew a three-goal lead late in the third period as the Sabres rattled off four goals in the span of about eight minutes, spoiling a chance to steal one on Buffalo’s home ice.
While the Bruins managed to grab two wins to push the series to a game six, it was abundantly clear the Sabres were the better team. Throughout the series, Boston struggled to control the puck or generate sustained offensive pressure, consistently losing the shots-on-goal battle to a Buffalo team that looked far too comfortable in the offensive zone. Defensively, the Bruins gave little support to goaltender and Vezina finalist Jeremy Swayman, who wasn’t entirely to blame for his rough .793 save percentage in the series. Swayman’s frustration boiled over near the end of game four, when he ripped into the bench after giving up six goals and was replaced by Joonas Korpisalo.
It was an uninspiring showing for a team that had showcased a great deal of grit and toughness when pushing for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. And while it’s worth acknowledging the Bruins weren’t even expected to make the postseason, the way they bowed out against Buffalo left a bad taste in the mouths of Boston fans.
While they are only a month into their regular season, it already feels like the Red Sox are a lost cause. Manager Alex Cora was fired April 25 as ownership needed a scapegoat for the abysmal start to the season that has left the Red Sox in last place of the American League East division. Many Sox fans had legitimate concerns about the roster leading up to the season, and it’s evident that the franchise’s reluctance to spend on talent has left this team with little chance of turning things around.
Simply put: The Red Sox don’t have the hitting, pitching or defense to field a competitive ball club. The white flag has already been raised, and it’s not even Memorial Day.
The Patriots won’t start their season until September, but negative vibes are swirling around Foxborough as head coach Mike Vrabel is involved in off-the-field drama involving NFL reporter Dianna Russini. Leading up to the NFL draft, few of the questions surrounding the Patriots had anything to do with football, and Vrabel even missed day 3 of the draft to seek counseling as a result of the situation. While this remains a personal matter, the optics aren’t great for a coach long praised for his character, especially one leading a young team hoping to return to the Super Bowl in 2027.
In a time when Boston typically embraces its title as the “City of Champions,” it now feels like it’s on the opposite end of the spectrum. It’s been a stretch defined more by disappointment than excitement. Maybe the warmer weather can do what these teams can’t and lift the city’s spirits.
